Participant Info

First Name

Ray

Last Name

Nichols

Press Name

Lead Graffiti

City

Newark

State

Delaware

Country

U.S.

Email

ray AT leadgraffiti.com

Website or Blogsite

http;//leadgraffiti.com

Year You Started with Letterpress

2002

How You Got Involved In Letterpress Printing

Was taking our design students to London each summer and fell in love with the letterpress of Alan Kitching and Ian Mortimer.

Presses & Equipment

Vandercook SP15, Vandercook Universal III, two iron handpresses, 3 floor model platens, 2 Heidelberg Windmills, Intertype C4

Education & Training

Mostly self-taught

Work History

I was the coordinator of the Visual Communications Group at the University of Delaware, teaching there from 1974 - 2006 when I retired. In October 2008 I was honored for my career of teaching by the Art Directors Club of New York with the inaugural annual exhibition entitled "Grandmasters, From One Came Many." I was also listed as professor of Material Culture Studies at the University.

My teaching efforts included co-directing the program's study abroad program, five weeks in London each summer, from 2001 - 2005. It was during these London trips taking students to the St. Bride Printing Library, The British Library, The Type Museum, workshops at the Typography Workshop with Alan Kitching, visits to the Royal College of Art, and visiting a number of private presses including one to I.M. Imprint, that we caught the letterpress bug. In 2002 after our second London trip we started Raven Press at the University of Delaware, a letterpress shop to provide our design and illustration students with a more historical and hands-on experience with typography.

In 2007, my wife, Jill, and son, Tray, formed Lead Graffiti, a letterpress studio in Newark, Delaware where we produce a lot of personal projects and run workshops in letterpress printing and bookmaking. We've printed for the Metropolitan Opera, the Sundance Film Festival, the Delaware Art Museum, The Art Directors Club of New York, and Sprout TV Network, among others.

A few recent Lead Graffiti letterpress projects that stand out in our portfolio include two years of Tour de Lead Graffiti of following the Tour de France and producing a poster via letterpress each of the 23 days reflecting on the day's events (2011, 2012); a book to support the Treehouse School in London, combining an essay by British author Nick Hornsby and lyrics of Bruce Springsteen (2011); a catalog celebrating an exhibition of work by noted printmaker and letterpress printer Leonard Baskin for the Delaware Art Museum (2010); and the 8th grade diplomas for the Waldorf School of Philadelphia (2012).

I am current the president of the Chesapeake Chapter of the American Printing History Association through 2012, having served as its Vice President from 2007-2010.

Other Interests & Hobbies

Letterpress Group Memberships, If Any

APA, APHA, Fine Press Book Association

Birth Year

1946

Your Photo or Press Photo